


Mute Animations

by KannaRaimi



Category: Original Work
Genre: Animation, Asian-American Character, Black Character(s), Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Selectively Mute Character, YouTube, dance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 08:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12207234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KannaRaimi/pseuds/KannaRaimi
Summary: Kiyoshi and Tau work together to show Tau's subscribers how two orphans, one selectively mute dancer and an overenthusiastic animator, got together and built a life together.





	Mute Animations

Taking a deep breath, I turned on the camera and smiled. Blowing out into my mic, I prepared myself to translate my hands into words.

**_Hi. I'm Kiyoshi, but Tau calls me Yosh. I am mute, it is hard for me to speak. I am a little. I dance for Tau. I sing for Tau, but only when I need to._ **

I pause my signing to look at Tau. Tau comes in the view of the camera to take over. I lean over to collect my reward and Tau gives me a cinnamon candy via a kiss.

**_Happy._** Tau kissed me on camera, and smirked at the camera. The material representation of her 2 million subscribers. Tau shrunk her face cam window to a corner, turning back to the camera she addressed them while giving me a bag of candy.

“To introduce you all, I decided to animate a short film based on what Yosh wrote down for me. This is the first time she's gonna see it, so I've decided to show it to everyone at the same time.”

**_Surprise. Confusion._ ** Tau grinned and clicked play on the video. I watched as the black screen filled with white text and the keys of a toy piano started in the background.

**_I’ve always had a talent for dance. I grew up in an orphanage, in a small town on the outskirts of Virginia. For as long as I can remember, I've used my body to speak._ **

Slowly a short Asian girl with pale skin and and a black bob faded in twirling slowly in a circle. The girl wore my favorite outfit, a baby blue sweater and white booty shorts, but had stitches keeping her mouth shut. More text appeared below her.

**_An ever changing language that does not use the complexities of the human tongue, but instead relies on complex social cues and posture._ **

A Black girl, much taller than the Asian girl, fades onto the screen. The Black girl is in a green hoodie and jeans, and she's holding her sketchpad with a pencil tucked behind her messy brown hair.

**_I used to belittle myself for using this way of speaking; until I met Tau. She speaks enough for the both of us, and understands me._ **

Tau’s character watched mine dance all around, and scribbled on her sketchpad.

**_When the orphanage assigned us to each other when I was 4, it was Tau that asked me if it was ok with me; and she asked me my way. Holding eye contact, Tau gently placed her hand in mine and gave me a questioning nod at our Buddy Tags._ **

Our characters re-inacted the text and held hands. I twirled into Tau’s larger body and was dipped. The screen goes black again.

**_Tau has always been there for me; even when we were younger. I remember the first time I switched on, I was around 6 and Tau was around 8. That day was a haze of emotions and thoughts, some that revisit me in my darkest hours._ **

I was curled into a ball on a bed in the shadow of a window. The music slows down and lightning flashes.

**_There was a thunderstorm raging against the orphanage walls. The noise and bright lights frightened me badly, but no one but Tau noticed me crying in my bunk. She climbed down from the top bunk and placed me in her lap._ **

A top bunk faded onto the screen, and Tau was hanging from it. A flash of darkness and she was sitting on my bed with me on her lap, and little music notes floating from her head.

**_I remember her smelling like clean laundry, and enjoying her gentle humming while she rocked us back and forth. I remember noticing how strong her embrace was and how safe she made me feel. When I calmed enough to close my eyes and relax my face into the crook of her neck, it happened._ **

Tau’s character had green little music notes floating from her head, and then my character lifted her head and little blue music notes drifted from her head.

**_I sang along with Tau. It hurt but I sang anyway. Tau says I sang for her in that moment but really I sang for myself. I sang for us, and all that we could be._ **

_**I fell in love with my best friend; the closest thing I'd ever had to a family; and I was content to be by her side, but at 18 years old Tau left the orphanage and headed off to college.** _

My character stood in a doorway waving goodbye as Tau walked away wearing a backpack.

**_She dreamed of being an animator and producing cartoons that helped people like me. She always said I was special but I knew what that really meant. People need to speak, but I don't. I only speak when Tau needs me to, and that isn't normal._ **

My character was once again sitting on her bed. Surrounded by silhouettes of whispering people, I curled into a ball. The lights dimmed until only my characters silhouette was visible.

**_The next year blew past with the help of handwritten letters delivered every weeknight. They smelt like her, and kept me company when the hard days hit. Through her letters, Tau encouraged me to go to a Performance Arts college._ **

Our characters were both laid out on their beds, surrounded by paper. I was clutching a stuffed cat and Tau was staring at a Polaroid. 

**_I've never been able to handle the thought of disappointing Tau, so I practiced hard. Day in and day out, I danced and flipped and posed. I put on after dinner shows, I interned at a Modern Dance studio, I went to every free performance in the DMV. I pushed my body and mind to match the intensity of Tau’s words._ **

I almost looked away but Tau caught my hand and nodded at the screen. In screen my character was spinning and flipping and doing splits over and over and over again. Until she tripped during a spin and fell.

**_I wanted to make her proud of me. I think, deep down, I wanted Tau_ ** **to want** **_to come back for me. Tau worked hard and was getting ahead with every update, I worried she'd soon forget about me. The night I had that thought, it overwhelmed me._ **

My character was back on her bed, once again curled into a ball, and the room got very dark but the screen didn't go black. Instead the music stopped completely and tears stream out of my face. Then the screen fades all the way black.

**_I cried the entire night, and did not stop. The den mother was so worried she called Tau, and Tau dropped everything to come and see me. That was the first time she kissed me, and I remember the shock vividly._ **

My character is once more curled in a ball on her bed and the music cuts back in. Tau steps into the scene and settles behind me, grabs my characters face and kisses her.

**_Tau hung out with me all weekend and we talked the whole time. She spoke softly and matched her words with sign language, while I responded in sign language and my own made up gestures. We established boundaries and defined our relationship._ **

  
Our characters sit next to each other holding hands. A flash of light and Tau is wearing a grad cap and gown. Another flash of light and now Tau’s hair is red. Another flash and I'm wearing the cap and gown. Another flash and my hair is now down my back, as I watch Tau talk into a camera. Another flash, and I'm dancing on a stage with pop stars while Tau smiles behind her camera. One last flash.   
  
**_This is us. This is me. I am Kiyoshi, and she is Tau._ **


End file.
